There would be no big comeback in Tampa Bay on
Thursday night. After surrendering another two-goal deficit in the opening
period, the Sharks floundered against a Lightning lineup that outworked San
Jose in just about every facet of the game. The net result was a 5-2 loss to
another inferior opponent. San Jose continued their up and down road trip with
a head scratching performance.

Three off days between their pummeling
of the New York Rangers on Monday seemed to leave the Sharks lethargic as they
squared off against another celler-dwelling team that had no business competing
with the under-achieving Sharks. But once again, surrendering the lead early in
the game has become standard practice for the Sharks.

San Jose got
down to business early, staking their opponent to a lead just 30 seconds into
the contest. Rookie James Wright scored his first career NHL goal after
pounding the net on a bang-bang series of passes from Martin St Louis and
Vincent Lecvalier. Lecavalier slammed on the breaks along the right wing boards
as the Lightning was on a rush, before zipping a pass to St Louis on the right
post. St Louis deflected the pass to Wright who was crashing the net on the off
post. With a Sharks defenseman in tow, Wright easily punched home the puck for
the 1-0 lead.

Tamp Bay would make it 2-0 with 5 minutes to play in the
period on a crazy redirect. Defenseman David Hale threw the puck on net from
the left point, where Lightning goal scoring leader Ryan Malone redirected the
puck by reaching behind himself as he cut through the slot. The puck changed
directions, beating Evgeni Nabokov, and for the second straight game the Sharks
trailed by a pair of goals in the opening period.

A holding penalty to
Steven Stamkos 6:30 into the 2nd period gave the Sharks an opportunity to cut
into the Lightning lead, but Marc-Edouard Vlasic misfired on an empty-net
chance down low and the Lightning penalty-killers snuffed out the remainder of
the Sharks power play.

Devin Setoguchi took a lead pass up the left
side right at the midpoint of the period, but his breakaway shot sailed wide
right of Lightning goaltender Mike Smith.

Ryan Vesce scored his 3rd
goal in as many games to finally get the Sharks on the board at 12:34 on a
scrappy effort in front of the net. Kent Huskins started the sequence by
putting a puck on net from the left point. Smith failed to control it, allowing
Vesce to get a stick on the puck after fighting off a check down low. Jason
Demers earned the secondary assist, giving him 8 on the season.

Stamkos made it 3-1 late in the period after Demers
lost his footing down low. Last seasons 1st overall draft pick grabbed
the puck from behind the Sharks net and started to skate toward the left
corner. As Demers lost his footing, Stamkos circled out to the front of the
net, where he whiffed on his first shot attempt, before burying a second try.
The initial whiff crossed up Nabokov, allowing Stamkos to slip the second
chance just inside the left post.

Andrej Meszaros pushed that lead to
4-1 at 2:54 of the 3rd period on a dup in that mutated into a goal after
Marc-Edouard Vlasic tried to get a stick in front of the puck. Meszaros was
just past the Sharks blueline when his wrister was redirected by Vlasic,
fooling Nabokov.

A slashing penalty to Vincent Lecavalier gave the
Sharks a power play with 7:38 to play, and former Lightning defenseman Dan
Boyle would convert on the ensuing power play with a shot from the point that
deflected off Smith.

That goal would prove meaningless, as the Sharks
continued to flounder whenever they gain control of the puck. Smith would see a
steady stream of long range pucks, but nothing really challenged him over the
final 7 minutes.

Sharks head coach Todd McLellan decided to pull
Nabokov, even though his team trailed by two, but all that did was pad Stamkos
stats after Alex Tanguay unselfishly passed the puck over to his young linemate
after the pair busted out of their own zone with the puck and nothing but ice
between them and the empty Sharks goal.

Game Notes:

The loss marked the first time San Jose dropped a game to the Lightning since
2004. The game marked the first time the Sharks have not surrendered a power
play goal since they lost 1-0 in the shootout against the Phoenix Coyotes on
October 12th. San Jose has allowed a power play goal in 8 of 10 games this
season.

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